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# Sheepshead Man Starts Armed Rebellion – Kinda
- URL: https://bklyner.com/sheepshead-man-starts-armed-rebellion-kinda-sheepshead-bay/
- Published: 2009-07-30T16:19:03.000Z
- Updated: 2009-07-30T16:19:03.000Z
- Author: Ned Berke
- Tags: michael littlejohn, #API-Imported

Things get weirder by the day in NYC politics, and now it has taken a turn to the utterly bizarre.

A Sheepshead resident is calling Mayor Bloomberg a tyrant following the actions of hizzonah’s Royal Guard (a.k.a. the NYPD), who have been trying to seize the man’s antique rifle. Michael Littlejohn, a Colonial American reenactor, had a replica Revolutionary War-era flint-lock rifle custom-made by a Tennessee-based blacksmighth. The only problem is, he didn’t have a gun permit. Now he’s threatening to sue the city for taking the fight too far. Here’s an excerpt from[ an article in the Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/ny%5Flocal/brooklyn/2009/07/29/2009-07-29%5Freplica%5Frifle%5Fhas%5Fbrooklyn%5Fman%5Fat%5Fodds%5Fwith%5Fcops.html?ref=bklyner.com#ixzz0MlQ23INo):

> “This is the last legal gun that you can have without registration in New York,” Littlejohn said. “And yet Mayor Bloomberg is driven crazy by my flintlock gun – the one that won the American Revolution.”

> Littlejohn fired the first shot when he hired a Tennessee blacksmith to recreate the vintage rifle. It arrived at his Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, apartment in June – followed quickly by city cops.

> Police claim it’s illegal for Littlejohn to keep the flintlock without a gun license.

> Littlejohn, 50, cites the earliest American patriots as his inspiration while refusing to surrender his firearm or apply for a license.

> The social worker is also clinging to a little-known exemption in the city’s strict gun laws.

> The loophole allows license-free ownership of “antique firearms” – defined as rifles that require the bullet and gunpowder to be loaded separately.

> Littlejohn’s rifle appears to fit the bill.

> Loading the weapon, he explains, is a multistep process that takes several pokes with a ramrod and up to a minute to complete.

> To fire, the rifle relies on a sharpened piece of flint that produces a spark when the trigger is pulled. That point is moot, Littlejohn says: He doesn’t own gunpowder or bullets.

> That’s not enough to make the NYPD retreat.

> The cops visited Littlejohn’s apartment and sat down this month with the Tennessee blacksmith who forged the rifle.

> The lead detective on the case told Littlejohn’s lawyer that he had orders “from higher-ups” to pursue the case, according to an e-mail the lawyer sent to Littlejohn.